20171129
THE SIN OF SACRILEGE
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Daniel 5:1-6,13-14,16-17,23-28 ©
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King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for his noblemen; a thousand
of them attended, and he drank wine in company with this thousand. As he sipped
his wine, Belshazzar gave orders for the gold and silver vessels to be brought
which his father Nebuchadnezzar had looted from the sanctuary in Jerusalem, so
that the king, his noblemen, his wives and his singing women could drink out of
them. The gold and silver vessels looted from the sanctuary of the Temple of
God in Jerusalem were brought in, and the king, his noblemen, his wives and his
singing women drank out of them. They drank their wine and praised their gods
of gold and silver, of bronze and iron, of wood and stone. Suddenly the fingers
of a human hand appeared, and began to write on the plaster of the palace wall,
directly behind the lamp-stand; and the king could see the hand as it wrote.
The king turned pale with alarm: his thigh-joints went slack and his knees
began to knock.
Daniel was
brought into the king’s presence; the king said to Daniel, ‘Are you the Daniel
who was one of the Judaean exiles brought by my father the king from Judah? I
am told that the spirit of God Most Holy lives in you, and that you are known
for your perception, intelligence and marvellous wisdom. As I am told that you
are able to give interpretations and to unravel difficult problems, if you can
read the writing and tell me what it means, you shall be dressed in purple, and
have a chain of gold put round your neck, and be third in rank in the kingdom.’
Then Daniel
spoke up in the presence of the king. ‘Keep your gifts for yourself,’ he said
‘and give your rewards to others. I will read the writing to the king without
them, and tell him what it means. You have defied the Lord of heaven, you have
had the vessels from his Temple brought to you, and you, your noblemen, your
wives and your singing women have drunk your wine out of them. You have praised
gods of gold and silver, of bronze and iron, of wood and stone, which cannot
either see, hear or understand; but you have given no glory to the God who
holds your breath and all your fortunes in his hands. That is why he has sent
the hand which, by itself, has written these words. The writing reads: Mene, Mene, Tekel and Parsin.
The meaning of the words is this: Mene: God has measured your
sovereignty and put an end to it; Tekel: you have been weighed in
the balance and found wanting; Parsin: your kingdom has been
divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Daniel 3:62-67 ©
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Sun and moon! bless the Lord.
Give glory and eternal praise to him!
Stars of heaven! bless the Lord.
Give glory and eternal praise to him!
Showers and dews! all bless the Lord.
Give glory and eternal praise to him!
Winds! all bless the Lord.
Give glory and eternal praise to him!
Fire and heat! bless the Lord.
Give glory and eternal praise to him!
Cold and heat! bless the Lord.
Give glory and eternal praise to him!
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Gospel Acclamation
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Lk21:36
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Stay awake, praying at all times
for the strength to stand with confidence
before the Son of Man.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Rv2:10
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Even if you have to die, says the Lord,
keep faithful, and I will give you
the crown of life.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 21:12-19 ©
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Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Men will seize you and persecute
you; they will hand you over to the synagogues and to imprisonment, and bring
you before kings and governors because of my name – and that will be your
opportunity to bear witness. Keep this carefully in mind: you are not to
prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom
that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict. You will be
betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations and friends; and some of you
will be put to death. You will be hated by all men on account of my name, but
not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.’
THE SIN OF SACRILEGE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Dn 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28; Dn 3:62-67; Lk 21:12-19 ]
After a long
44-year reign under King Nebuchadnezzar, the Kingdom of Babylon began the road
to decadence.
The kings after him were self-serving and ill-disciplined. They cared
little for the people and were ruthless. Though the empire lasted another
22 years, these were marked by revolutions and assassinations, culminating in
the reign of King Belshazzar who served as a co-regent with his father, King
Nabonidus.
How did the
kingdom come to lose its glory? We are told that the last straw that
broke the Kingdom was King Belshazzar’s sin of sacrilege. He dishonoured the one
true God not only by not rendering Him worship but he went to the extent of
taking the sacred vessels from the Temple and drinking from them in honour of
the pagan deities. Desecrating the sacred vessels was an audacious
and deliberate defiance, insult and mockery of God. The judgment of God
through Daniel was this, “You have defied the Lord of heaven, you have had the
vessels from his Temple brought to you, and you, your noblemen, your wives and
your singing women have drunk your wine out of them. You have praised
gods of gold and silver, of bronze and iron, of wood and stone, which cannot
either see, hear or understand; but you have given no glory to the God who
holds your breath and all your fortunes in his hands.”
How did he
come to such a state where he lost all respect for the Sacred? The truth is
that the writing is all on the wall. No one can come to such a
state of contempt for God unless he or she had allowed himself or herself to be
gradually consumed by sin and evil. The truth is that no one becomes an
incorrigible sinner overnight. It begins slowly, first with neglect of
God by not praying; then leading to indifference, and finally to
hostility. This was the case of King Belshazzar. He
never learnt from the humbling experience of his father, King
Nebuchadnezzar. His father was proud and arrogant and hardened with
pride. He was eventually stripped of his glory and deposed from his
throne. He was driven away to live like an animal. This, Daniel
reminded King Belshazzar. (cf Dn 3:18-21)
Yet, he
allowed himself to be tempted by the sin of the world, by the desire for glory
and power.
When he became powerful, he thought the world of himself. He became proud
and arrogant. He had no respect for man nor even God. When a man
falls into the sin of pride, there is the beginning of his fall. “Pride goes
before destruction,and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Prv 16:18)
“Everyone who is arrogant is an abomination to the Lord;be assured, he
will not go unpunished.” (Prv 16:5)
“The proud one shall stumble and fall, with none to raise him up.” (Jer 50:32)
Secondly, he
was consumed by the sin of the flesh. This is the sin of sacrilege
against one’s body, which is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. “Do you not
know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have
from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in
your body.” (1 Cor 6:19f) King Belshazzar was eating and drinking
excessively. When we take too much alcohol, we lose control over our
reasoning. We become irrational and say and do the wrong
things. That could be the reason for his action with regard to the
sacred vessels. He was no longer in control of himself. The sin of
gluttony and alcoholism will lead to womanizing and the sin of lust because the
biological and animal nature of the person will be unleashed without
self-control. A man who engages and indulges himself with food, drink,
wine and women will become lazy and irresponsible to his duties.
Indeed,
overwhelmed by our sins and desires, pride and cravings, our conscience will
become numb.
People do not lose their faith in God overnight. Secularization is a
process that took place since the 18th century. Today, we
are seeing the full impact of how humanistic ideologies, which have led
to the stripping of God from public life in Europe, have caused the Christians
to gradually lose faith in God. It has led to relativism and materialism.
Those of us in Asia and Africa are just beginning to suffer the impact of
secularization. If we do not arrest it, we will also become humanistic,
agnostic and skeptical, like in Europe where Christianity is dying. This
is true on the personal level as well. The punishment for sin is to
commit more sins. Blindness will lead to greater blindness. Pride
will lead to a false understanding and estimation of oneself and one’s
opinions.
The result is
judgement and punishment. As for the King, the Lord said, “Mene, Mene, Tekel and Parsin: The
meaning of the words is this: Mene: God has measured your sovereignty and put
an end to it; Tekel: you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting;
Parsin: your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.”
In other words, the days of the king had been numbered because he was tested
but found to be wanting, not just by God but by the people as well.
Historically, when the Persians and Medes came in, they were welcomed by the
people who swung open the gates to welcome the Medo-Persian army without
putting any resistance because they were fed up with the Babylonian king.
It seems only Belshazzar was killed. Cyrus later entered the city and was
hailed as their liberator from the oppression of Nabonidus and Belshazzar.
If we are not
careful, because of our negligence and indifference to the spiritual and the
sacred, the Devil will conquer us easily. Allowing the sin of the
world and flesh to overtake us is to fall into the trap of the Evil One.
Indeed, instead of using the gifts that the Lord has given to us for service
and doing good, many of us use them for evil. This is particularly tragic
when we use things consecrated and offered to God for our selfish purpose,
whether it is with regard to the use of Church buildings, financial donations
or gifts.
So what is
the way to avoid falling into the sin of sacrilege and the consequent
self-destruction? The gospel calls us to be faithful and persevering to the
end. Jesus assures us, “Your endurance will win you your lives.”
With the psalmist, we are called to give glory and praise to God. Like
the prophet Daniel, we must do the right thing. When he was offered gold
and power, he was disinterested. He was not motivated by the pursuit of
wealth, luxury, power or honour. What he was called to do was to speak
the truth for all in obedience to the Word of God. He told the king,
“Keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to others. I
will read the writing to the king without them, and tell him what it means.”
We must admire the courage of Daniel for in those days, a harbinger of
bad news would be executed by the king. Yet, Daniel did not mince his
words and spoke the truth to him exactly as God had revealed to
him. This is what Jesus is asking of us, His disciples, when He
said, “Men will seize you and persecute you; they will hand you over to the
synagogues and to imprisonment, and bring you before kings and governors
because of my name – and that will be your opportunity to bear witness.”
However, we
do not do it alone by our own strength. He promises us the Holy Spirit so
that we have the courage and wisdom to do the right things. “Keep this carefully
in mind: you are not to prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you
an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or
contradict.” How is the Holy Spirit given to us, if not when we keep our
spiritual life strong through constant personal prayer, meditating on the Word
of God, sharing the Word with our fellow Catholics and praying with each other
so that we are strengthened by each other. Most of all, we need to find
grace and strength through worship, the celebration of the sacraments,
especially of the Eucharist and Reconciliation. In the Eucharist, we are
nurtured by the Word and His Love.
Finally, it
is in Christian witnessing by living a good Catholic life and through
evangelizing that we remain strong in our faith. Through a constant awareness
that we are called to be good examples and role models to others, we become
more conscious of how we should conduct ourselves in daily life. Besides
being a witness, we are to share the Good News with others so that in
evangelizing others, we also evangelize ourselves. Our faith will become
reinforced as we share what Christ has done for us and what we are doing for
Him and how we are living our lives for the service of humanity and the glory
of God.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
